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Multiple-Meaning Words

A multiple-meaning word is spelled and said the same way but means different things: a bat flies at night, and you hit a ball with a bat. Context is the only clue, which is why these words are such good reading practice.

Here are 116 multiple-meaning words from past ClueBy puzzles, each with a real example sentence for every meaning. Use them as a reference, or make a printable worksheet below.

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Students read each sentence and write the missing word. Every word appears in several sentences, each time with a different meaning.

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Multiple-Meaning Words

Name: ____________________Date: __________

Write the missing word in each sentence. Each word is used more than once, with a different meaning each time.

  1. I was having a ________________ recording these guys.
  2. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  3. Nobody expected a disaster on this ________________.
  4. The train ________________ at six o'clock.
  5. The elephant has a huge ________________.
  6. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  7. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  8. The kitchen ________________ is next to the microwave.
  9. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  10. I cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.
  11. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.
  12. The ________________ change colour in autumn.
  13. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.
  14. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  15. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  16. He always ________________ the window open while he sleeps.
  17. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  18. Every pianist practices the C major ________________.
  19. The King held a masked ________________.
  20. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  21. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  22. I've got the luggage in my ________________.
  23. The kitten curled into a ________________.
  24. The tree's ________________ was scarred by lightning strikes.

Sentences from ClueBy, Tatoeba (CC BY 2.0 FR) and Common Voice (CC0). clueby.com

Answer key

  1. ball — a great time
  2. mine — an explosive
  3. scale — size or range
  4. leaves — to go away
  5. trunk — of an elephant
  6. clip — to cut
  7. mine — for digging
  8. scale — for weighing
  9. file — a document
  10. tear — from crying
  11. tear — from crying
  12. leaves — of a tree
  13. tear — to rip
  14. file — a tool
  15. clip — a video
  16. leaves — lets stay
  17. clip — for paper
  18. scale — in music
  19. ball — a dance
  20. mine — belonging to me
  21. file — a line of people
  22. trunk — of a car
  23. ball — a round shape
  24. trunk — of a tree

Multiple-meaning words list

Tick up to 10 words to build a worksheet with just those words.

Make a worksheet (0 words)

Frequently asked questions

What are multiple-meaning words?

Words with the same spelling and pronunciation but more than one meaning, like bark (of a dog or of a tree) or bank (for money or of a river). You can only tell which meaning is meant from the rest of the sentence.

Are multiple-meaning words the same as homonyms?

Mostly, yes. Teachers often use "multiple-meaning words" and "homonyms" for the same idea. Homophones are different: they sound alike but are spelled differently, like flour and flower.

Are the worksheets free?

Yes. Make and print as many as you like for home or classroom use. Each sheet has its own link, so you can print the same one again.

Where do the words come from?

From past ClueBy puzzles, a daily game where you sort twelve sentences by their missing word. A new puzzle every day adds four more words to this list.

Sentences from ClueBy, Tatoeba (CC BY 2.0 FR) and Common Voice (CC0). clueby.com